Aku
' Aku' is a major antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts Unlimited Saga, first appearing in "The Keyblade Wars" as a member of Chernabog's Inner Circle of Old Ones, then reappearing in the Second Trilogy as a future member of the Nightbreed Organization led by Mok Swagger. He is also known as the "Master of Masters", "The Deliverer of Darkness", and the "Shogun of Sorrow". Aku constantly antagonizes the samurai hero Jack, often attacking him when he is weak, and other times defending himself from Jack's own gambits. The two seem doomed never to defeat each other, for though Jack has defeated him on numerous occasions, Aku merely transforms into a creature and escapes, usually calling out a taunt over his shoulder, a fact that he is all too entirely aware of. While he's usually presented as a serious and threatening foe, Aku is also a source of comedy, due to his outrageous design and sometimes wise-guy behavior. Story Origins (Partially cited from 73Windman's Origins) The story of Aku's origins encompasses both aspects of his being: his infernal Old One side and his more human side. The Old One half was naturally the first to be formed, originating in the hectic Age of Chaos as a formless evil spawned from the Great Chaos xirself. As one of the most powerful Ancient Ones in existence, the Formless Evil soon made powerful enemies in the Grecian Primordials, their Titanic successors, the Chaos Brothers, and the first Frost Giant Ymir, who all wanted their own claim over the chaotic landscape they held dominion over. The battles between the Formless Evil and his opponents were great and bloody, only briefly interrupted by the arrival of Chernabog and his band of fallen angels turned demon lords from Heaven. Chernabog, hoping to win himself a new ally in his own war against the forces of light, was able to secure an alliance with the Formless Evil, offering it the souls of the precursor mortals in the early worlds in exchange for both parties not intending to kill each other at any point in the future. Now with a Spawn of Chaos on his side, Chernabog was able to interfere with the war between the Old Ones and unite them all under his leadership for the final aeons of the Age of Chaos. Then things took a turn for the worse for Chernabog when the Lands of Legend formed following the end of the Age of Chaos. New Classical-type Gods began forming from pantheons all over the multiverse, and they saw the chaotic reign of the Old Ones as a threat to their own goals of establishing a balanced order in the cosmos. Fearing for his rule, Chernabog sent the Formless Evil to destroy these upstarts and reinforce his rule permanently, but the creature quickly met opposition in the form of Bor, Vishnu, and Amun-Ra, the champions of the Classical Pantheons. During the battle, the deities' assault was fierce, and despite the entity's attempts to resist, it was almost entirely destroyed, much to Chernabog's fury, save for a single piece flung from the whole. This fragment entered the N-D universe and then split into two more fragments, entering the atmosphere of a prehistoric world in the Warner Brothers quadrant and then crashing both of its selves in the planet's surface, with one fragment being the Chicxulub impactor, which touched ground in modern day Mexico, and the other fragment entering the planet through Japan. Although both fragments ultimately caused the K-T Extinction event of the Cretaceous which led to the demise of the Dinosaurs on that planet, the Chicxulub fragment was annihilated completely by the impact, leaving the more dense Japan fragment to survive, developing over eons into an ominous forest of black spikes that devoured any organism who dared enter. This patch of forest soon fell into legend and was subsequently abandoned when humanity first appeared on the Japanese islands. The other side of Aku was born millennia later during the Lands of Legend as a human. However, this is only in the literal meaning of the word. The being who would one day make up part of Aku's self was evil to his core, and truly an irredeemable monster among men. From the age of eighteen, nothing brought him more joy than bloodshed. A deadly samurai known throughout Japan, the unknown scoundrel lead a band of warriors that rode throughout the Asia of his world, spreading death and despair with every swing of the or blades. It was when the Samurai found himself in uncharted territory in China that he found his first defeat. He and his men ran into the territory of the Old One dragon, Shendu, uninvited. Irritated by the mortals' intrusion onto his land, Shendu quickly killed them all, engulfing them in a massive storm of fire. Immediately afterward, the ruthless warlord's soul descended to Tartarus, where he was to face an eternity of torture for his crimes, but he only suffered three decades instead when fate chose to intervene. One day, the Nightmare King, the Ancient One of Nightmares and one fragment himself of Chernabog's original being, was feeling particularly bored while on a "walk" about the hellish domain. Seeing the wailing souls desperately plead for a chance to escape their fate, he decided to set up a little game for them as a token of his "good will" for those his brother had full ownership over. He picked a handful of the most fearsome of Tartarus' residents, the Samurai warlord among them, and had them fight in a tournament, the winner of which would get a prize in the form of a second chance at life. After suffering endless torment for untold centuries, the warlord was more than desperate to escape Hell permanently and accepted the Nightmare King's challenge. But the tournament was no cake walk as the warlord quickly discovered. Every bit her fighter was just as desperate to escape Tartarus as he was, but he was able to cut down all of them before they could do so to him in turn. When the dust settled, he was the last man standing before the Nightmare King...he had won. As the Nightmare King began to congratulate the samurai warlord, his mind began to stir with a sudden thought of clarity. This was only a second chance at life. When that was done, he'd simply return to his eternity of torture and never be able to escape it forever. The warlord instead stared the Nightmare King in the eye...and refused his prize, suddenly lunging at the demon lord without a second's hesitation. The warlord decided that rather than live only to die and return again, he'd destroy the Nightmare King and take his place as a high official in Tartarus. Surprisingly even for himself, the samurai fought very well for a mortal soul and was able to beat down rather heavily on the King. But before he could end the battle, the true lord of Darkness intervened. Chernabog was infuriated. The Nightmare King had organized this tournament without his permission, all as a means of spiting him for not having protected him during their original division. He was about to punish his "brother" severely for his treachery, until he saw that the samurai did it for him. Impressed, Chernabog offered the samurai warlord a position as a member of his Inner Circle of Demon Kings, a job the warlord gladly accepted instead. Chernabog also then demoted the Nightmare King as punishment, which began the King's grudge against Chernabog. With that, the Warlord was upgraded into a form similar to that of the Tengu Shredder, but with his current face you see him with today underneath the helmet, and made a full-time member of the Old One order. But fate would soon intervene again in the Demon Samurai's favor. Back on Earth, the Formless Evil's Black Thorn Forest had continued to prove itself as a threat to the Yamato people, eventually growing to a large enough size that the Emperor of that land (Jack's father) decided to kill the evil at its source before it could claim the souls of more victims. Armed with a magic oil given to him by Buddhist monks, the Emperor and his cavalry rode into the heart of the forest, the Emperor himself the only survivor as his cavalrymen vanished one by one. Once at the black lake in the forest's center, the Samurai Lord doused an arrow into the oil he was given, firing it into the black lake. Meanwhile, back in Tartarus, Chernabog sensed the re-emergence of his old ally in pain, and, in an attempt to possibly save it from oblivion, sent the Demon Samurai on a mission to intervene and stop the Emperor from destroying the dark forest. The Demon Samurai agreed and fled to Japan in a blink of an eye, confronting the Emperor much to his surprise and engaged him in battle for the evil forest's survival. While the two warriors engaged in combat, the magic oil that had coated the arrow and pierced the lake was, instead of vaporizing the darkness, actually galvanizing it to new power levels, causing it to overflow and rise up in a geyser-like form. The Demon Samurai had only a quick glance behind him to look before the black spike river swallowed him up and began to merge with him, changing him into a more powerful appearance. At last, the vicious warlord who had brought such pain to Asia and the formless entity that had threatened the cosmos since the beginning of time had become one, and thus was truly born the Eldritch Old One Wizard...Aku. Now strengthened by the power of the power of the formless entity which made of his being, Aku easily defeated the Emperor, trapping him to the side of the original black tree in order to watch as Aku destroyed the Emperor's home. The Classical Gods, sensing the good in the Samurai Lord, were able to free him and summoned him to a secret place. Taking the good inside him, they forged used avatar bodies to create an enchanted sword that was capable of harming Aku. Armed with the sword and a magical suit of armor, the Emperor plunged into battle against Aku. In the end, the Emperor was victorious, but he was unable to destroy the demon, and so instead used enough holy power to banish the demon lord back to the depths of outer space. As he began leaving the planet through the atmosphere, Aku vowed he would one day return. Shortly after, the Emperor's wife gave birth to a son. Determined to learn from the catastrophe, and aware that Aku may indeed one day return, the Emperor and his family determined on creating a plan, and thus orchestrated the events that would set Jack on his eventual years of training. Aku, in the meantime, had been retrieved by agents of Chernabog, who carried the wounded demon king back to their master for both an admiration on what he had become by merging with the formless evil...and also a harsh reprimending for his failure to utilize that power properly against the Emperor. Nonetheless, Aku was able to convince Chernabog to give him another chance to redeem himself, and that he would instead wage war on other Japanese worlds before returning to his homeworld for revenge. The Dark King accepted, and eventually pulled a few strings to allow Aku control over the Youkai hordes, led by the long-since transformed Eltarian necromancer Master Vile. The Keyblade Wars The Second Trilogy Appearance and Personality Abilities Category:Villains Category:Ancient Ones Category:Demons Category:Wizards Category:Aliens Category:Pyrokinesis Users Category:Warriors Category:Time-Travellers Category:Darkness Users Category:Dark Warrior Category:The Nightbreed Category:Non-Disney Characters